


Mighty Long Fall

by ranzeru



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, FrostIron - Freeform, Frostiron Bang 2015, Hurt Loki, Loki Feels, Loki-centric, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Odin's A+ Parenting, Sexual Content, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 11:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5126162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranzeru/pseuds/ranzeru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After spending several weeks together not as Iron Man and not as God of Chaos but as fugitives of both SHIELD and Asgard, Tony finds himself probably falling for Loki.</p><p>Then Loki is taken away from him, and he really falls for Loki. Quite literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On One's Knees

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EndlessStairway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessStairway/gifts).



> Whoa lots of firsts!  
> First Bang... first-ish to go on the Bang,  
> First time posting, first-ish writing O__O
> 
> Special thanks to Caroline/ cepharah (endlessstairway.tumblr.com) for graciously giving me not two, but FOUR arts! and saving this fic :) espcially for the patience, because apparently Tony and Loki (and me probably) were being difficult! She's made a cover and the others are embedded at the appropriate chapters :)
> 
> I guess I should also say, this started out to be a Mini... but it grew up xD

* * *

 

**fall /fôl/ (on one’s knees) _verb_ \- throw oneself down, typically in order to worship or implore someone**

 

* * *

 

 

            “THOR! DAMMIT! GET OFF YOUR ASGARDIAN HIGH HORSE AND FUCKING TALK TO ME!”

Tony stood at the center of the fancy crop circle the Bifrost left in the deserts of New Mexico. Whiskey was sloshing his thoughts around but he had a goal, one goal, and he was going to see it through. He had been yelling himself hoarse but so far nothing but humid winds answered him. The heat was absolutely no help to his temper – his suit jacket had long been discarded at his feet, collecting sand. He was also very close to smashing his phone to pieces as it had not stopped ringing. He tossed it instead with his jacket after setting it on vibrate so he wouldn’t see it anymore. He suspected JARVIS had contacted both Pepper and Rhodey and had told him of his whereabouts and what he had been up to. If they really needed him for something other than to tell him to stop they can very well drive through the desert and haul his ass. Besides, they should just be happy he wasn’t passed out drunk again in the corner of alcohol poisoning and death.

 “I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, YOU FUCKER! THIS IS THE SECOND TIME- _THE SECOND TIME_ \- YOU TOOK MY STUFF!” He laughed mirthlessly. His own words were starting to annoy him. Tony knew Thor wouldn’t help him. The god had been against the whole thing since he had learned about it. In fact he was the very reason Tony was now standing in the middle of the desert, sweating and swearing up a storm. Well, he could have been somewhere else, anywhere really, the Tower, Malibu, he knew he didn’t need to be in the middle of the desert. But that didn’t change the fact that he would still be cussing out an endlessly silent sky.

Following the invasion in New York, Tony found out that Loki had been brought back to SHIELD under the pretense of “questioning” regarding what, Tony wasn’t sure. All he knew was that Thor was gripped with enough fear for both the safety of Earth and Asgard, that he was more than happy to lend a hand and deliver Loki back to SHIELD. It seemed like a fine and dandy idea, sensible even, Loki was the bad guy after all and he held all the information, until Tony discovered that “questioning” was simply a more adorable word than “torture.” Fury had been known to be unkind with his tactics, but with Loki he was especially cruel- because Loki was unbreakable, that was a given, and Fury was, well, furious at that. Loki probably didn’t help matters whenever he did choose to open his mouth, spewing nothing but insults and sarcasm.

Tony was only trying to spy on the interrogation, to find out what it was Fury wanted to know, why Thor was bending over backwards in fear. So Tony hacked the inferior mainframe of SHIELD, it took a while but it was practically child’s play. He had access to all the files, but none he was particularly interested in. Well, one called _Budapest_ and another _Winter Soldier_ maybe, but those he kept for “Read Later.” Anything that involved Loki’s name ended on incident reports on New York and nothing more beyond the Trickster being sent back to Asgard. It made it seem like he wasn’t back on Earth at all.

Ever suspicious, Tony moved on to video footage- even if he could just listen to the q and a he’d be able to get some sort of clue of what Fury was up to. Once again, nothing-- not even of Thor and Loki entering the facility, and that in itself was odd. Fury was being too clandestine, even for a spy and it was fuel for Tony’s curiosity. He found himself in SHIELD facility, the super secret one that really wasn’t so, not for Tony anyway. He was Iron Man so of course he had a right to be there, Agent.

It was there, after a series of escapades in labyrinths of halls and elevators that he found In short, Tony had found Loki huddled in pain and without the ability to heal himself, bleeding close to death in his cell. Afghanistan flashed through Tony’s mind and he didn’t even think twice when he decided to bust Loki out. Disregarding the little voice inside his head that told him it was a bad idea, a _very_ bad idea, he hid Loki.

 

Tony fell to his knees, exhausted by rage and frustration and memories. He ran his hands down his face before resting them down at his nape.

“Thor,” he called much softer now. “I need him.”

 

* * *

 

**_Flight Test #1_ **

            “Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Tony flailed inside the suit. All his repulsors failed simultaneously just a few miles after he took off from Stark Tower. He was bound to hit glass any second. “JARVIS! What—“

            “Sir, as I was trying to communicate with you before you took off, this suit is not flight ready.”

            “Yep, got that! Can you get me back online?”

            “Redirecting all power to your repulsors now, sir.”

            But Tony felt the glass roof of Stark Tower shatter at his back and shortly after he was going through concrete.

 

* * *

 

 

            _Tony closed the_ Basic Principles of Engineering _textbook he had been reading aloud to the unconscious Loki. He cleaned off the dried blood from the trickster’s skin, careful not to jostle him. He didn’t know what Loki was capable of, after all, if he regains consciousness in a compromised position. Injured or not, Loki was still far stronger and Tony only needed to be thrown out of the window once, thank you very much. He considered restraining the god, but looking at the maimed figure in front of him, he decided against it. He took comfort instead in the activator bracelet ready to engage at least the suit gauntlet should Loki make things difficult for him._

_He also tried to patch up the deepest of Loki’s wounds that he could see with whatever supplies he pulled out from the small first aid kit he found lying around in the apartment. It was for the better, Tony supposed, the only knowledge he had with wounds were that of his own. He wouldn’t know what to do with more supplies._

_But he counted them. Again and again, he counted Loki’s wounds. Tony was a scientist and an engineer, first and foremost, and his mind would not resist numbers whenever it arose. Against his will, he counted them when he first saw the beaten trickster in his cell. His count was less then, but the trickster looked far worse. Blood gushed red all over, flooding together on his body, hiding some of the wounds. Against the pale skin, the god looked like he was glowing red. Tony counted again after he cleaned up the god, who didn’t even so much twitch, unconscious and almost lifeless. The numbers increased as the water washed away some of the blood, some crusted, some fresh. It was as if a satin veil was being pulled away from the god’s skin._

_Tony took Loki to his old college apartment near MIT. He was barely in his early teens and should by no means be living on his own but somehow he convinced Howard that it would be the same as being in a dorm. There were the occasional butlers and nannies of course, but he had been pretty much independent. He hadn’t been there since his final undergraduate years and through the dust and emptiness, drunken nostalgia of college hit him. It was the only place he could think of that would take awhile for anyone, including Pepper and Rhodey, to figure out he’d go to._

_He’d brought nothing with him except for the suit he used to break Loki out. It laid dormant in briefcase form, not that much different from Mark V, but with the gauntlets and boots collapsed neatly in bracelet and anklet forms already on him for emergency activations. He considered tinkering with the damages on the suit but didn’t want to risk JARVIS, and by association, everyone else, tracking them. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust JARVIS, and his mainframe was definitely unhackable. Pepper and Rhodey on the other hand, totally hackable and both still had emergency override controls on JARVIS. And so, with nothing else to entertain himself with, he pulled out an old textbook from the shelves and read theorems out loud. Something about reading to a patient helps them heal faster, or whatever._

_With the book on his lap, he looked over the sleeping god once more. Like this, Loki didn’t look like the psychotic, mass-murdering maniac he had been in the Invasion of New York – thanks, media, for the incredibly cheesy title. It was easy to forget the baleful glint in his eyes with them hidden away behind calmly closed lids. Unable to keep his mind occupied with tinkering, Tony’s mental warfare rose again to the surface._

_What the fuck was he doing? What was he_ going _to do when Loki woke up? He could call Thor, but Thor had been the one to give Loki to SHIELD. Also, very real possibility that Thor might beat him to a pulp if he found out that Tony stole little brother, anyway. Tony wasn’t sure whether or not Thor actually knew what was being done to Loki and dammit he did not orchestrate a prison break just so his damsel would end up back in the tower. He needed a drink. Or two. Or ten. There was none around, so he needed some air, instead._

_He stood up and placed the textbook on his chair. He was able to take one step before a hand shot out and grabbed his arm and gripped it tight. The gauntlet on his other arm materialized around his hand without delay. On instinct he aimed it at the figure, the repulsor whirring to life._

_“Stay,” was all Loki’s hoarse and unused voice said._


	2. Flat

**fall /fôl/ (flat) _verb_** – to be unsuccessful, to fail

* * *

  

**_Flight Test# ????_ **

            “Tony! Tony, Stay with me. Stay!” a voice commanded over him. He didn’t know why, he wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere. Whose voice was that anyway?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nope, it's not broken, that's all of it :P


	3. Apart at the Seams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony speaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look out for cepharah's art!

**fall /fôl/ (apart at the seams) _verb –_ feeling extremely distraught and having difficulty to do what they usually do**

* * *

 

**_Flight Test #8_ **

 

            His heart wanted to leap out of his chest, pressing against his ribs, as if it wanted to save itself from the inevitable crash. No doubt his heart had learned its lesson and wanted no more of these flight tests. Tony Stark, however, was stubborn. The suit had shut down once he exited the atmosphere, just like it had in New York despite the numerous modifications he’d made on the suit. He was falling too fast back into Earth that he felt the suit heat up everywhere around him. JARVIS was nowhere to be heard and Tony suspected that the wirings had already been fried by the increase in temperature so there was no hope to reconnect with his AI. Sadly, this also meant that his suit would not reboot anytime soon… if at all.

            He closed his eyes for a second but it reminded him of his fall in the invasion of New York and the darkness seemed to extend time. There was too much air pushing against his lungs, yet it felt like there was not enough to breathe in. Unlike New York, he was all too aware of his descent this time, he always was nowadays, the buildings around him growing taller as he fell away from them. He wracked his brain for the last things he said to Pepper, to Rhodey, like a sick, ritualistic routine. It might have been “go away” or “leave me alone;” yep, that was too much a possibility. But he couldn’t exactly recall; like his mind didn’t want him to know what a colossal jerk he had been for the past few weeks. His mind was rushing, flickering between too many memories too fast it was impossible to hold on to one like channel surfing.

 

            _“What is this one for?” for the umpteenth time, Tony heard the same question come from the same bored voice._

_“It does things,” Tony said again, also in the same manner he had been answering the inquisitions. Only this time he stood up from the other side of the Zero Engineering chopper he had been working on, “Don’t push the button, though. Seriously, one casualty is enough.”_

_“So dramatic,” Tony saw Loki roll his eyes. “It was but a flare up._ You _should have told me what that last one did. I wouldn’t have been compelled to find out for myself otherwise.”_

_Tony walked around the bike so he could face Loki. There was not much he can do for the damage the motorcycle took from the laser Loki decided to toy with. Bored god of chaos is apparently chaotic, who knew? Carefully, he plucked the mini-missile stick from Loki’s deft fingers._

_“Ohhkay, sunshine, you’re proving more trouble than you’re worth. No more touchey!”_

_“My, you’re irascible today,” Loki’s recently emptied hand moved to outline Tony’s beard._

_“You broke my Samurai,” Tony practically whined but leaned into the touch anyhow._

_When Loki was able to stand up and move without much pain, Tony thought it was for the best that they relocate. Tony chose an old workshop he hadn’t used in years so they wouldn’t be easily tracked. It was where he kept old cars he had worked on in his earlier years and other collectibles, including an impressive array of motorcycles. Tony was starting to rethink the soundness of that idea._

_Loki closed the distance and whispered into the shell of Tony’s ear, “How else was I supposed to call your attention?” He trailed featherlight kisses along Tony’s jaw and stopped right at the corner of Tony’s mouth. He hovered over Tony’s lips, perfectly content in just sharing the breath that Tony was heavily exhaling. But Tony was never patient outside of his tinkering and Loki was holding out an eternity. He leans in and…_

A metal armor was not the best cushion for a high impact plunge. Gold -Titanium alloy pinched at Tony’s sides and limbs and sharp edges dug against his skin. He felt every force of the crash, the quake reaching all the way to his bones. The only consolation was that the armor prevented him from breaking any of them and cradled his neck when his head whiplashed upon collision. He blacked out soon after.

* * *

 

****

            “If you wanted to kill yourself, Tony, for goodness’ sake just pull a trigger and get it over with!” Pepper had been a looming—and booming—presence since she found him post-crash in the garage. Deep cuts and blood joined the array of older wounds on his face and body. He was also now nursing a black-purple bruise on his abdomen with ice, which only looked worse and bigger because the surrounding area was still blue and not completely healed from previous injuries.

            “I can’t take this anymore, Tony,” Pepper said, in the calm hysteria she had been switching back and forth from yelling. “I can’t keep finding you like this. I can’t keep wondering if you’re going to survive—if I should call 911 for an ambulance or a body bag.”

            Tony remained silent all the while, a novel feat for someone who really liked the sound of their voice. But this was a tired, old argument, redundant and circuitous. He’d long since explained to Pepper why he had been doing these tests; what he hadn’t explained, and why Pepper was blowing a gasket, was why he had been performing premature tests. And that really boiled down to Tony’s impatience.

            “I’m fine,” Tony said. Because he was always fine even when he wasn’t.

            “I just don’t understand.”

            “I know you don’t, Pep, and that’s okay. Because I don’t ever want you to have this feeling, okay? I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he smiled a sad smile at her. “And if somebody does make you feel this way, I’ll sic all of the failed armors on them.”

            “Tony…” Pepper was not going to let him get away like that.

            Tony sighed. “It’s like this. Can you imagine being in a prison cell? Confined in three concrete walls and bars and that’s the only space you have and it’s driving you mad to get out. Just gotta get out,” he was rambling, he was aware, but as soon as he started he couldn’t stop the words from coming. “But you can’t because there’s no escape, no doors, nothing. That’s what it feels like, Pep. The whole of Earth, the whole of the fucking universe feels like a goddamn prison cell. And I’m fucking Tony Stark, world’s most brilliant engineer and yet I can’t figure out how to fly myself to where he is.”

            “Then you’re smart enough to know that if you keep going at it the way you are, you’ll just keep hurting yourself.”

            “That’s the thing, Pepper,” he looked at her with sad, brown eyes. “I’d rather break all of my bones and kill myself trying than keep on going on without him here.”

            “That’s stupid, Tony,” Pepper chided, sternly. Aghast. “I’m sorry, but it is…”

            “Do you know why?” he asked.

            “Why… it’s stupid…?” Pepper asked back, confused as to why this was even a question.

            “It’s not stupid,” Tony replied firmly. His emotions, strange little things, were all in turmoil and making themselves known to him and he didn’t know how to stop them. “Or maybe it is,” he conceded and Pepper gave him one of her of-course-you-are-because-I’m-right looks. She was about to open her mouth to say something so he kept going before she could speak. “Broken bones hurt. Don’t look at me like that. They hurt so much I don’t feel the pain of his absence. And maybe that makes me stupid… or numb. I don’t know. But I do know that when I’m flying towards nowhere in the direction of him that I’m not drowning in thoughts of how his hands are not on me or how he’s not there when I turn around. I’m not struggling to remember what he smells like or what his voice sounds like exactly. Because I’m starting to forget, Pepper. I’m starting to forget and that _hurts_. It fucking hurts.” He stared at his hands as if his emotions, his words were sitting right there. “Bleeding to death is nothing compared to bleeding memories.”

            “I’m not telling you to stop working on this,” she told him gently. “I’m just saying, please, _please_ , Tony, get some rest first. Put this on hold, and heal first. Regain some strength—“

            “Regain some strength?” Tony repeated louder than he intended to, poisoned with frustration and repeated failure. “Regain some strength?!” he said again, harsher, louder. His anger was flaring, out of control.

            He stood up abruptly and threw the ice pack he was cradling on his stomach down on the floor. Pepper reared back and flinched, understandably shocked. “THAT’S THE PROBLEM, PEP!” he continued to shout, the brakes in his mind unhinged. “NO MATTER WHAT I DO, NO MATTER HOW LONG I ‘REGAIN SOME STRENGTH’,” he punctuated the borrowed statement with a mocking tone, “I WILL NEVER BE STRONG ENOUGH!”

            Tony raked his fingers through his hair and left them there. Pepper sat frozen and quiet in place. She looked like she wanted to say something to calm Tony down but was fighting an internal battle of whether or not it will actually do any good.

            “I will never be strong enough,” Tony whispers. “I can’t get to him, Pepper. I’m too weak. Too weak. Incapable, incomplete. Useless.”

           

* * *

 

_“Useless,” Loki said followed by a few grunts as he struggled to inspect his own wounds in bed._

_“You really shouldn’t move, sunshine,” Tony said, putting the glass of water he just poured for Loki on the side table._

_“Utterly inefficient to heal without magic,” Loki practically spat. “How in the Nine realms do you pathetic lot manage this?”_

_“Hey! I take offense to that!” Tony said pointing an accusatory finger at the god while plopping himself down on a nearby chair. “You’re actually healing pretty fast for someone who lost tons of blood and had been cut up like Christmas ham.”_

_“Fast? This rate is pitiful.” Loki had taken to tracing the cuts that seem to follow the major striae of the lean muscles on his arm. Not that Tony noticed how lean they were._

_“Where’s your magic anyway?” Tony asked if only his curiosity could distract him from other thoughts. Thoughts he wasn’t supposed to have, not for a psychopath. Thoughts he was having because he was fucking Tony Stark and fucking Tony Stark actually hadn’t fucked in weeks and was maybe fucking touch starved. But Tony wasn’t going to admit that either. So he was going to try and mind-fuck himself instead._

_Loki looked over him, expressionless but Tony knew that he was wary. Tony might have saved his life – though he insisted it didn’t need saving, he was not a helpless damsel in distress but Tony could argue otherwise, little priss—trust was an entirely different thing. Should Tony be in reverse roles, he would behave the same._

_“Alright, don’t tell me,” Tony chimed and smirked. “I can figure this out.” Loki raised an eyebrow. Tony smiled bigger, he didn’t care if he got it wrong – he wouldn’t, though, he was smart and he could solve this puzzle—he just cared that Loki’s full attention was on him, and he could flex his scientific mind. “By the Fundamental Laws of Physics, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, and as a scientist, I am inclined to believe the same for magic. Blink if I’m right. Great! So, I already know that you are more advanced than us humans. Blah, blah, god , right? It’s not much of a stretch to assume that magic is just you harnessing energy from around you and manipulating it in ways that_ we _can’t. Like Thor, who uses lightning.”_

_That earned him an eye roll and a scoff. “That’s hardly magic.”_

_But he continued, undeterred. “Maybe not, but same concept. My problem, then, is this: the energy is still around but for some reason you can’t use it. Your magic didn’t go anywhere, you just can’t access it. Why? Did someone mess with your head? But no, you seem coherent enough and you’re not drooling or crazy back in New-- nevermind, I imagine messing with that messes with other things. Do you need your leather and metal? It can’t be that simple, that to take off that armor takes away your magic. And you can’t have been wearing all that stuff as a kid… Stop that!” Tony furrowed his brows._

_At some point Loki lifted his tunic to inspect the laceration on his abdomen, long slender fingers running over the ridge of the cut skin. Lines and sinews of strength were exposed for Tony’s viewing, pale as porcelain. The definitions of the dips and valleys on his stomach were not overdone, not like Thor’s which imposed might, giving the illusion that he was more fluid and flexible. And well maybe he was, he moved as such anyhow. His pants clung low, part of his bony pelvis exposed with something there that looked like a faint birthmark._ And Tony, stop fucking gaping at it.

            _“Does what you see please you, Tony Stark?” Loki was looking at him amused, eyebrows cocked, while his finger ran up and down his cut._

_“Uh-huh. What? No! I mean, it’s not unpleasant,” Tony gulped. “Shut up. Am I right?”_

_“Quite,” Loki parted his lips to brush his tongue across his top teeth._ Loki. Tongue! “ _The desire screams from your eyes. You can’t deny-“_

_“Shut up. Don’t – I meant about the magic.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Loki whose smile had gotten toothier._

_Loki made a non-committal noise, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. A slice of eternity passed between them. “It’s these cuffs,” he said finally. He held up his hands to show a leather cuff around each of his wrist. They were non-threatening, simple and brown engraved with what looked like three triangles intertwined with each other. “Odin’s seal, he bound my abilities to touch magic and therefore use it.”_

_“Have you tried?” Tony asked, and admittedly, as soon as the question left his lips he felt stupid for asking. He blamed the unthought inquisition on the shock he just experienced from Loki actually answering him. He motioned to reach for Loki’s hands, to inspect the cuffs but he didn’t actually make contact, waiting for permission._

_“Hm,” Loki hummed in agreement. He placed his wrist on Tony’s open hands. Tony was startled at the amount of trust that was placed on to him. Why was Loki okay with this? Nonetheless, he turned Loki’s wrists around to get a better look. “It is… not pleasant. And I can only manage to maintain the contact with magic for so long before the cuff burns and the fire travels through my veins up my forearms.” He withdrew his hands sharply when Tony tried to dig his fingers under the leather. Anticipating the question accompanying the gesture, Loki said, “I know not how to rid myself of it. I supposed in the same manner as Thor’s punishment.”_

_Tony thought hard at the unmentioned implication, the actual weight of the understatement. He found Loki in a cell, battered, bloody, broken and near death. He’d seen the footage of Fury’s interrogation techniques on Loki, who simply laughed maniacally against the blade. The god_ laughed! _Fury had cut on every definition of muscle he could find and the god simply laugh as if the sharp edge simply tickled him. Conclusion? The god was tough as nails whose pain tolerance level beat the Mount Everest in height. If he said something was ‘not pleasant’ it probably meant it was painful as hell; especially since he was willing not to use the magic._

_Loki’s hand moved to his cuts again; this time he was sticking his fingers in. He was probably trying to see how deep it was._

_“Seriously, stop fidgeting or I’m going to tie you up.”_

_Loki shot him an annoyed look, “You dare?”_

_“Yep, so stop moving!”_

_Loki’s eyes had hint of murder in them and he had taken to clenching his jaw but for some reason he took heed of Tony’s words. He kept muttering under his breath though, and if Tony didn’t know any better he could’ve’ sworn it was something like ‘I’d bet you like to tie me up.’ Or maybe that was his own fantasy talking to him. He decided not to push his luck and turned his attention to the book that previously sat on his chair._

_“Why did you do it?” Loki eventually asked him. His tone betrayed nothing, not disdain, not even curiosity, his face a perfect mask._

_“Why I sprung you out?” Tony clarified. Loki gave a curtest of nod, it might have been missed had Tony not returned Loki’s stare. “Dunno. Didn’t seem right to leave you to be tortured, deranged or not,” Tony shrugged and gave Loki, whose mask dropped back to the murderous glare, a kilowatt smile. “I’ve been at the end of that stick,” he continued, “no one deserves that.”_

_Tony successfully smoothed Loki’s scowl into an inquisitive one. It was evident that Loki wanted to pry, his expression was that of someone deciphering a secret code. Not that the look was misplaced on Loki’s features, it was just odd that the god didn’t use it as ammunition to prod into Tony’s weakness._

_“When shall I expect to be returned?” Loki said instead._

_“Returned?” Tony asked confused.”You think I would?”_

_“I’ve no idea of your motives, Tony Stark. You and I are no comrades, nor do we have reason to be yet you have stolen me from your allies. I assume you will attempt to get back into their good graces with my person as your bargaining chip.”_

_“Well, you know what they say about assuming,” Tony said. “This is a secure location. Just relax and heal like a normal person.”_

_But Tony was hoping it were that easy._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it confusing yet? huge chunks of italics are flashbacks


	4. On Deaf Ears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki confesses... sort of  
> Tony was a dork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the other art!
> 
> reminder: huge chunks of italics are flashbacks

 

**fall /fôl/ (on deaf ears) _verb -_ to go unheeded; be ignored completely**

* * *

 

_Loki suppressed the gasp that threatened to escape him. He hadn’t imagined it after all; the raw feeling of skin against his own, uninfluenced by magic. It was a feeling so unhindered, no. No, the sensation was too, too what, exactly? Too enormously bare and naked to try and contain in something as insufficient as words. He thought perhaps it was something his subconscious conjured up while he slept; dreaming so as to repair his mental wounds as his body adjusted to the slow pace of fixing itself without magic. But no, it was there. For the first time, he felt what feeling was supposed to feel like – unfiltered by magic. Raw and blazing hot._

_In that moment, the moment when he had to fight his own reflexes to react, to gasp, to stop himself with so much control – a skill he had prided himself in mastering- now seemed to be faltering – it was then that he knew he would be addicted. He_ was _addicted. He would crave the touch of Tony’s skin against his. He would chase the heat of it, ego be damned._

_“Hand,” he said with an edge that he often used when he sneered as he held out his in waiting._

_A series of expressions crossed Tony’s face in quick succession: startled, confused, and that ridiculous grin._

_“Head… and shoulders,” Tony spoke slowly as if speaking to a toddler. His hands went to his head and to his shoulders respectively rather than into Loki’s outstretched hand. “Knees and toes, knees and toes!” The mortal finished with an annoying jingle._

_“What is it that you are doing?” Loki asked, one eyebrow raised, unable to keep his annoyance out of his voice._ This might be worse that dealing with Thor, _he thought._

_“I thought you wanted a lesson in body parts or something. So, yes, those are called hands-“_

_Loki closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to continue his display of annoyance. If he hadn’t, who knew what would have escaped his mouth. A certain flirtatious retort was dancing on the tip of his tongue but this was not the time and he still had to maintain this murderous persona if he was to survive Tony Stark._

_He opened his eyes and held out his hands again. The self-satisfied grin was still on the mortal’s face. “Give me your hands.”_

_“Uh, no,” Tony said, “You’ve got your own.”_

* * *

 

 

            “Release him, Loki!”Thor’s demanding voice echoed through before Loki could see him.

            He waited until Thor was in view before he answered, “Who? I haven’t wrung your lover’s neck in days.” Loki plastered on his shark-sharp smile, all teeth, all menace.

            Thor stilled at the sight of a shirtless Loki. His scars, though healing, were still brightly visible, darker than his cream-colored skin. Guilt colored the bright blue eyes of the blonde god and visibly steeled himself before continuing.

            “You know what I mean, brother,” Thor tried to deadpan but his voice betrayed all his emotions.

            “Because I am _so_ up to date with whatever matters seem to twist your undergarments,” Loki rolled his eyes.

            “Tony Stark.”

            Loki tensed at the name. He had no idea why Thor would bring up his name and in what context the news Thor brings but dread ran shivers down Loki’s spine. He was hungry for details yet wary of what is to come. Thor normally avoided the topic of one Tony Stark and it has been way too long since he had laid eyes upon his mortal. So often the ghost of his touch danced on Loki’s skin and left him in goosebumps. The memory, like all the others, was strong again and fueled his fury against Thor. It left him instead in silence.

            “Release him,” Thor said breaking him out of his reverie.

            “Where, pray tell, would I be hiding him in this grand old cell? Hmm?” The smile had long since slid from his face. He was annoyed that he did not know the aspects of the condition of Tony Stark. By the tone of Thor’s voice, it was not well, however.

            “I meant whatever magical hold you have over him,” the blonde god frowned even more, if that was possible. “He is killing himself, brother! Break the enchantment and release him! He will not reach Asgard, alive or otherwise! He cannot help you escape this time!”

            The terror that was residing on Loki’s spine suddenly exploded and filled him from head to toe. He clenched his fists until his nail dug into his palm, enough to draw blood. “Are you really that daft?” he asked his adoptive brother. It took all his might to keep his voice from shaking in a myriad of anger and fear and confusion. He held up his wrists where Odin’s cuffs still curled around. “I had no magical abilities on Midgard, you blithering oaf! How was I supposed to put some stupid enchantment on _the_ Iron Man?!” His voice raised an octave, near yelling but still not quite. But he’d step closer to glass that encased him. There was no doubt that he was rabid.

            “I had thought… had hoped—“ Thor began and Loki knew where he was going with it; whatever went down between them, Thor was still an Avenger, an ally to Tony Stark. “He will kill himself if he continues this madness, brother.”

            “How absurdly mortal of him,” Loki said with a sneer and the shark smile he always wore to hide his true emotions.

            The comment seemed to shock Thor however. Aghast, the blonde god stepped up so that mere glass separated him from Loki. “Are you so heartless? Was he but a plaything?”

            They stared at each other for awhile, Loki refusing to dignify the accusations with an answer. The silence between them stretched for what seemed like an eternity. When Thor finally caught up to Loki and Tony after the prison break, he also discovered Loki _and_ Tony. The gravity of that “and” was proven by how hard Tony fought against Thor to keep Loki away from him. In the end however, Tony’s mobile suit did not stand a chance against Mjolnir. Though Thor made an accord to Tony that he would not take Loki back to Fury, he also made clear that he did not approve of whatever relationship the two shared. Perhaps it was Thor’s proclivity to be protective of his allies; Loki was after all a murdering maniac not too long ago. Or perhaps it was born of brotherly affection, it was no secret Tony Stark never cared much for his conquests. Whatever it was, Thor was not happy to learn about it and was more than happy to put Loki back in his cell in Asgard.

            Thor lifted his head and spoke again. “He asks for you.”

            Silence. Loki wanted to ask more but never one to showcase his emotions lest he be called weak.

            “You know why I cannot take you back to him,” Thor continued, perhaps just to fill the stillness. “He continues to build suits upon suits to traverse the galaxies in order to get to you. He will kill himself, Loki, you and I both know that there is but one way to reach Asgard and the All-father is not so generous to allow a Midgardian to step into the Realm Eternal.”

            “Nexus portals,” Loki said simply.

            “Does he know of them? They are still far and away. He’s crashed every time, the first one being the worst. He broke several bones and--”

            “What would you have me do then, Thor?!”Loki spat the words, unable to reign in the fury at the mention of Tony’s injuries. Those were things he could not bear to hear, not if he wanted to keep himself together in front of Thor.

            “I do not know. Tell him, tell him to stop,” Thor pleaded.

            “That’s brilliant, Thor.” Loki replied, thick with sarcasm. “How am I supposed to do that from here?”

            “Allow… me… to deliver the message for you,” Thor fidgeted, turned his gaze down and shifted his weight, unsure of the soundness of his suggestion. “Tell me something so he will know the message came from you.”

            “Here’s a better idea,” Loki showed his teeth again. “Deliver me instead. He’s guaranteed to stop trying to breach Asgard.”

            “I—“

            “But for SHIELD, you would have,” Loki said curtly, to cut off the expected response from Thor.

            “You have no desire to tell him to stop,” It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.

            “I have not,” Loki conceded.

            “You rather he dies in his attempts?!”

            “I’d _rather_ be reunited with him!”

            “And what use is that when his body is flayed? What use is it to be reunited with a dead man?! Let him live, brother! Let. Him. Go.”

            “I…” Loki began but turned his back, muscles he knew were visibly tensing. “I do not possess the strength. He is my weakness.”

            The confession was sure to shock Thor, whether it had the desired effect, Loki didn’t know… or bothered to know. He just stood there, the statement draining everything out of him. There was nothing left for him to say and Thor knew as much. He did not know when Thor actually left, if it was immediately or if he waited for Loki to expand on what he said. Either way, the god of thunder never said another word.

            Loki closed his eyes and drowned himself in the memories of Tony Stark.

* * *

 

             _“Don’t you guys have a Big Brother?” Tony asked, no doubt trying to mask the discomfort of having Loki inspect the metal bracelets that housed the gauntlets around his wrists._

_“What?” Loki asked in return, distracted._

_“Big Brother? Something or someone that watches everything you do?” Tony explained._

_“Heimdall? He is not a sibling,” Loki responded but his attention was full on the bracelets. Well, all right, his_ concentration _was on the bracelets, curious little things, of course but if he were to divert his attention they would be back to the intoxicating feeling of Tony Stark’s skin. Although he was having his fill, he was fighting extremely hard to showcase how inebriated he truly was, especially to the mortal before him._

_“Yeah, him. How is he not seeing that Thor stole you and then me?”_

            “ _How does it unfold?” Loki was no trying to pry open the bracelets._

_“Hey, hey, I worked hard on those!” Tony pulled his hands free from Loki’s hold and clutched his bracelets close to his chest and pouted. Loki frowned more from being robbed of skin contact rather than the scientist’s comical outburst. “Science-y things. I’ll tell you later. Heimdall and Thor though?”_

_Loki rolled his eyes. Tony was like a persistent dog when his curiosity was peaked. The god reached for the waist band of his trousers and pulled one side down slightly._

_“Whoa!” Tony exclaimed, outstretching his arms and holding out his hands to cover the site where Loki had not even exposed himself. “We need to have a proper date first or something!”_

_Loki once again rolled his eyes. “Oh?” He cocked an eyebrow and sported a most wicked grin._

_“It’s… You… What are you doing?”Tony said flustered. He had one eye closed and the one opened was accusing Loki pointedly._

_“Calm yourself, mortal,” Loki said but he was thoroughly enjoying the way the mortal was losing it. “I am merely showing you the answer to your inquiry. If you could have the courage to look, please.”_

_Slowly Tony lowered his hands and turned his head toward Loki’s middle. Loki had his thumb hooked on his waist band. The bony protrusion of his right hip bone was exposed. Even more however, an intricate mark that glimmered pink whenever it caught light was also revealed. Loki felt an unexplained heat coil in him when Tony’s huge brown eyes focused on the mark and then momentarily travel further down before refocusing. The latter part, Loki concluded he must have imagined if only to quiet his own unwanted thoughts._

_“A tattoo?” Tony asked._

_“Such a mark has no effect on my skin. No, this is a sigil. Thor colluded with an enchantress to put it upon my person. It hides me from the eyes of Heimdall and the All-seeing throne. As far as Asgard is concerned, I am still in my prison. My clone occupies it now.”_

_“Pink is not your color,” Tony said as he motioned unceremoniously toward the mark._

_“Stark?” Loki asked, and Tony stopped halfway to touching the sigil._

_“Uh, it uh, shimmers. I just wanted to see… uh… can I touch it?”Tony coughed._

_Loki said nothing in response but he had hoped that his expression challenged Tony to do what he had originally intended. A tiny voice in his head questioned his sanity to surrender trust to this mortal, this former enemy. But the desire of touch had engulfed him now, enough to snuff the voice out. But not before asking himself how it had come to this point._ Surely, a simple touch was not all it took?

            _“Erm, nevermind,” Tony finally said. Loki felt the pang of disappointment harder than he cared to. “It just looked so alive.”_

_“Magic runs through it. It is, in essence, alive.”_

_“But_ you _can’t use it?”_

_“Not without some discomfort, no.”_

_“So how come you can have it on you?”_

_“Properties of magic, Stark. I believe ‘later’ is how you put it.”Loki said as he hid the sigil again under his trousers and waved a dismissive hand towards the mortal._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how are you? thank you! if you're still reading :3


	5. Into Temptation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wet.
> 
> This chapter is very wet.
> 
> Naturally, smut

**fall /fôl/ (into temptation) _verb –_  to yield to desires that have long been fighting against**

 

* * *

 

**_Flight Test #18_ **

 

            The thought that maybe Tony persisted the premature flights because it was the only way he could vividly see the greens of Loki’s eyes again did cross his mind. But Tony was stubbornly a scientist first and didn’t believe in such superstitionistic rituals. He could remember Loki in full in the quiet of his bedroom, if he paused enough to slow down.

            Too bad there was no comfort in an unshared bed. Not even if he was in drunken stupor. He took to the sky once more.

 

             _“You will be the death of me,” Loki said as Tony slinked his arms into Loki’s front packets from behind. He kissed the not-really- fading crescent scar on Loki’s shoulder blade and then proceeded to lean his chin on his shoulder._

_They stood like that in front of the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling window. The view was unparalleled, Boston City skyline and Fenway Park available to them in one glance. Tony didn’t appreciate it when he was younger, but now he could easily say it took his breath away in the same way that the view from Stark Tower did._

_Caught in the moment, with the spectacle in front of them and the closeness with Loki, it took him awhile to actually grasp the solemnity of the words he’d just heard. It wasn’t too long ago this guy was throwing him out of the window, now he was_ enjoying _the scenery with his arms around him by the window. Loki must’ve felt his heart quicken because he touched Tony’s forearms and squeezed._

_“Technically the opposite,” Tony said finally and then kissed Loki’s shoulder blade again. “I think I saved your life and now SHIELD will probably want to kill me.”_

_Loki chuckled in response knowing Tony said it in light humor, however close to the truth it was. Tony reveled in the light vibration the chuckle caused. He felt compelled to plant another kiss on the god’s shoulder blade. This time he trailed them crossing from one side to the other. He vaguely heard Loki hum in pleasure before the god turned to face him and catch his lips in his._

_It was chaste at first, sweet and soft, fragile as if Loki felt he might break Tony with more pressure. Tony took it as it came, not wanting to push his luck… not knowing if he could push his luck. He still didn’t know what Loki actually thought about the whole thing; a relationship? A meaningless tryst? A pastime? It wasn’t like Tony knew either anyhow._

_“How did we get here?” Tony breathed out before he could think not to._

_“I had assumed you flew,” Loki said to his cheek._

_Tony buried his face in the crook of Loki’s neck before saying, very low and soft, “I think I fell.”_

_Loki stilled, the neck in his muscles stiffened. Tony could imagine the god’s eyes widening and he thought for a moment how much he wanted to see Loki bewildered. He refused the temptation to face Loki. Instead, he hid there for awhile longer. He didn’t want to see Loki’s reaction, whether it was rejection or reciprocation. Loki didn’t breathe a word._

_No, Tony didn’t expect to get an answer. It didn’t matter for now anyway. Right now all that mattered was Loki’s lips on every single part of him. He placed his hands on Loki’s neck and guided the god’s head back, his thumb tracing over the lines of his jaw, it was his favorite map to trace._

_He stared into Loki’s eyes, maybe searching or maybe just getting lost in the gold flecks that shone through the green irises that stared back at him. This close he could probably count the lashes that hooded Loki’s eyes. He could practically see Loki’s mind turning and he didn’t know if he was actually ready to go down that road himself. “Are you still in pain?” he asked in all seriousness, if only to redirect the conversation._

_“Not quite,” and Tony knew it was the truth because it wasn’t the short ‘no’ he used to get._

_“Then you know we have to move,” Tony said regrettably. There was something of a homely comfort in his old apartment and he knew that the next location he had in mind would pale in comparison. “They will likely track us here soon.” He left the ‘they’ in its vague state, because even he didn’t know who ‘they’ were going to be. He had to use his credit card to get some fresh supplies. Though he was careful enough to do so some distance away from the apartment, it wouldn’t take much to make the connection to MIT and where they were hiding._

_“Then we should make our time here count,” Loki said, stretching into a smile._

* * *

 

            The night sky stretched before him, wider and wider. He’d fallen so many times that gravity had a calming familiarity now.  That probably wasn’t a good sign. His HUD interface flickered for a second.

            “JARV?” he tested. There was no response and the HUD was black again. He didn’t really expect any answer; comms didn’t re-establish during the previews tests.

            “…Sir…” JARVIS’ static-y voice came through for a second and then disappeared again. Hey! Progress!  And then he was hitting water. And at least it was water this time! But he still felt pretty beat up when he impacted. And shit, there was one thing that came too late for him to realize. He was in a fucking metal suit, a stupid deadweight. With it still being offline, he couldn’t eject or fly out so he just kept sinking and sinking and sinking faster. Sure the suit bought him breathing time but look at that water started to seep through the suit and pretty soon he would drown inside.

             _Okay, okay Tony, think!_ Tony tried to lift his arms to force himself up but the metal armor was too heavy to push against the water’s downward pressure. Moving his arms above waist was a strike out but he could move them. He reached down instead and felt for a button somewhere on the side of his thigh.

             _Aha!_  A small compartment opened right below the button. He fumbled for a bit, the suit fingers heavier with the force of the water. Finally, his forefinger and his middle finger were able to pinch the little tube the compartment contained. Very carefully, and too slowly, he brought his hands together and clasped the tube more securely. His thumb glossed over knob. A little smile played on his lips despite the panic setting in before saying to no one in particular and to one particularly, “This is what it does, Sunshine.”

            The mini-missile shot out of its container as soon as Tony pressed the knob. The recoil and elastic forces propelled him upwards enough to break surface. The metal threatened to pull him down again but before he could he paddled to keep himself afloat.

            “Note to self, manual release hatch,” he said and then called “JARVIS? You with me yet?” The HUD flickered but never stayed online for more than a few minutes. JARVIS came through in broken static-y voice. “Ok, just get me out JARV. Divert power to right boot and left gauntlet.”

            He wasn’t sure if the message came across. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened. His arms were killing him with the combined heaviness of titanium alloy and water. Then his gauntlet lit up. Still no comms, however. Tony didn’t panic at the silence, JARVIS must have been trying to conserve whatever power hadn’t burn out. Not a moment too soon the opposite boot also lit up. A stupid grin spread wide across his face as he shout up away from the water, however unsteadily. He was flying unbalanced and with an angled trajectory. Relief replaced the flood of water that was now falling away from him.

 

* * *

 

             _The tip of a warm tongue slid upward, gliding the entire length of a growing erection and somehow,_ somehow,  _the sensation was much more glorious than if it was the whole pad had made contact. He was propped on his elbows staring at a pair of green eyes, usually glinting with mischief but this time they were also darkened by lust. The owner of those eyes smiled wider until the corner of his mouth, pointed and sharp, pushed against his cheeks and crated handsome dimples there. And Tony knew that meant no good._

_Loki took that time to flick the tip of his tongue a few times against the crown and then to the slit of Tony’s cock before engulfing the head whole in his mouth. Tony tipped his head backwards as his eyes rolled back into the back of his. His shaking arms gave way to his weight and he fell back against the bed._

              _Guttural sounds were flowing freely of his mouth. Curses, and Lokis, and just sounds. Free from his weight, his arms moved to reach for Loki’s head. His fingers tangled into the long black hair. Loki, in turn, grabbed the shaft of Tony’s cock at the base and without any other warning took the whole length in his mouth. When Tony felt his tip hit the back of Loki’s throat, who then hollowed his cheeks, he gripped tighter on the hair in between his fingers and bucked his hips up with a cry of Loki’s name. Loki’s hands moved to cup his ass as he came unbidden inside the god’s mouth. When he looked down, he was met with a picture of absolute filth. His cum was spilling out of Loki’s mouth as the god slid off his length. Loki crawled his way up, kissing and trailing a sticky mess up his torso everywhere his lips met skin. He spent extra time at the nook of Tony’s neck and shoulder. He found the extra sensitive spot right above the dip of Tony’s clavicle and clamped his mouth firmly on it. He sucked and sucked hard to the point where Tony knew it would leave a beautiful bruise.  Tony gasped loudly, especially when Loki accompanied the movements of his mouth with the movement of his hips, standing Tony’s still recuperating sex into attention._

_“L-L-Lokiii,” he both shuddered and pleaded the name. Loki released his skin, flourished with a lick and then clasped an open mouth onto Tony’s. He could taste himself on Loki’s mouth and why was that so fucking hot? An unattractive moan escaped him inside the kiss when the god ran his tongue across Tony’s teeth. That tongue!_

_Tony’s hand moved from Loki’s hair to Loki’s ass. His tan, calloused hands a sharp contrast to the pale smooth skin there. He squeezed, and squeezed hard, which caused Loki to open up. Tony had contemplated going easy on the slowly healing god, but apparently the god himself had no qualms for care or slow whatsoever. And so Tony found himself driving a finger into Loki’s opening. Startled by the intrusion, Loki broke away from the kiss, eyes shooting open. Tony could only give him a wide smile, both charming and challenging- a huge grin that spoke ‘yeah? What are you gonna do about it?’ Loki growled and claimed Tony’s mouth once more this time with more fervor and hunger._

_Unlubed and in a tight-_ so tight-  _hole, Tony didn’t dare move his finger. So it sat in there as Loki ravished his mouth and their tongues sparred. Loki clenched and caused Tony to unceremoniously hook his finger instead. This earned him a moan so he tried again tentatively. Except this time Loki released from the kiss again. “Move it or remove it, Stark!” he said, his voice hoarse and spent._

_Tony had the gall to look startled for a moment and then looked sideways. His dirty drawer too far out of his reach and he didn’t feel much like dislodging the beautiful creature on top of him. He looked back at Loki and smiled with an equal quality of mischief that the god usually dealt. He pulled his finger out, slow and dragging and reveled at the gasp Loki couldn’t help. Loki buried his face in Tony’s neck again. And then Tony reached in between them and curled his fingers around Loki’s shaft and those, too, he dragged up until he squeezing the head which was unsurprisingly drenched. Precum coated the first of his fingers. He wrapped his hands over the head of Loki’s cock until all his fingers were slick with Loki. He ran his thumb over the slip before letting go. With more care this time, he slip one finger again into Loki, the precum making the slide easier._

_He teased in and out, hooking here and there while Loki peppered his neck in kisses. Moving up, Loki led the kisses up his jaw line and flicked his tongue quickly on the shell of Tony’s ear. “Another,” he whispered breathlessly and proceeded to catch Tony’s earlobe in between his teeth._

_Tony obeyed without a moment’s hesitation. He felt Loki clench, adjusting to the difference in size. Only when Loki relaxed did Tony slowly scissor his fingers to further stretch him. It was slow work, with Tony losing focus at every ragged breath Loki hissed at his ear. By this time, Tony was fully aroused again, and the grazes of his and Loki’s cock only made him more painfully hard. Tony worked on Loki because he needed to be inside him like yesterday. He needed to feel the heat and the tightness that was bestowed upon his fingers. He needed to see Loki undone. He needed to see Loki’s face as he slowly impales him, or no, no, better yet as Loki slowly sinks himself to sheath Tony to the balls. That’s what he needed to see. The face Loki sported that was reserved solely for him. His one free hand grasped Loki’s hips, a silent communication of ‘Ride me, ride me now.’_

_Loki lifted, no doubt also on the tipping point, causing Tony’s fingers to slide out. Loki reached for the drawer and lubed Tony in seemingly no time. The thought that maybe it hadn’t been enough preparation crossed Tony’s mind for a second. But before the thought took hold, Loki moved his weight to his knees, reached back again and steadied Tony’s length. The other hand placed flat on Tony’s chest for support. Tendrils of hair fell around Loki’s face but they did not hide those lust-filled eyes. Both of Tony’s hands were on Loki’s hips now. Loki guided Tony’s length so that the head ran along the crack of Loki’s ass. He teased himself with it before ever so slowly, easing himself in and the sound that escaped both of them was harmonious._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very, super sorry for the inaccurate physics :(


	6. Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why you do that Thor?

**fall /fôl/ (out) _noun –_ a severe quarrel or disagreement, especially one that leads to a temporary or permanent end of a relationship**

* * *

 

           Loki rested uneasily on the simple chaise that was afforded to him in his cell. Despite the plush softness of the cushions, it never provided him any comfort. His knees, tented with his feet flat on the surface, cradled the singular item that lent him solace. He had been reading the same theorem from Tony’s _Basic Principles of Engineering_ book for what seemed like a hundred times. Though the theorem was familiar to him, he did not register it. Not because he could not comprehend the science behind, no, he’d learned from Tony Stark as much as the mortal siphoned knowledge from him, but simply because his mind refused to make room for anything other than memories of said mortal.

 

            _Tony’s hands._

_Tony’s arms._

_Tony’s embrace._

_Tony’s lips._

_Tony’s eyes._

_Tony’s eyes._

_Tony’s eyes._

_Tony’s eyes that hungered with curiosity about the wonders of the Nine realms. Tony’s eyes that shone with scientific knowledge. Tony’s eyes that were manic with mirth and huge with amazement. Tony’s eyes that burned with shameless lust. Tony’s eyes that steeled with determination to protect. Tony’s eyes that begged never to be ignored. Tony’s eyes that softened whenever they looked into his._

He closed his own and let his head fall backward against the back of the chaise. He drummed his index finger against the side of the book, if only to satisfy the jerk of his nerves. He supposed, whatever loathing he had for Thor, he had to be grateful that the older god at the very least allowed him the luxury of this book. But it was not enough to quell his already burning rage against the thunderer.

* * *

 

 

            _“Will you ever tell me what SHIELD wanted?” Tony asked into Loki’s hair._

 _They were cuddled in the back bed of Tony’s old pick-up truck, one of the many old relics that Tony housed in the old workshop along with other vehicular memorabilia. It was not the most glamorous or even the most comfortable place to lay but it had been…_ interesting _… in other regards. Loki’s head rested on Tony’s bare chest, hair covering his face, and one arm draped across his partner. Tony’s arm was under him, hands tracing circles on his shoulders. The mortal’s lips were softly planting kisses on Loki’s temple before it unceremoniously spoke and disturbed the peace._

_“Hrng,” Loki’s muffled voice said, he had hoped Tony would take that as a sign that he would rather sleep._

_“Regal answer, my prince,” Loki felt the soft swirl of air that escaped with Tony’s chuckle._

_“I do not wish to speak of that horrendous experience as of this moment, Stark,”_

_“You always say that,” Even without seeing, Loki could tell that Tony had resorted to pouting._

_Loki lifted his head up so that he was looking up at Tony. The engineer, who had looked down at him, was now directly nose to nose to him. Loki gave a resigned sigh.“The Tesseract, Fury still wants it, or imitate it.”_

_Tony frowned. Loki knew that the engineer became aware of the original plans the secret government agency had for the Infinity Stone; plans that Tony himself revealed to the rest of his fellow warriors that ultimately led to thwarting Fury. “I gave him no answer,” Loki continued, “because I know not what answer to give him.”_

_“You don’t know anything about your glowstick?”_

_“I know more than Thor, this is true, but what I do know I care not to share.”_

_“Hmm,” The engineer contemplated in silence._

_Brief silence._

_Nonexistent silence, because the next thing that followed was a despicable tell-tale thunder._

_“Tony!” Loki hissed, getting up on his feet and in his trousers in one swift motion despite his injuries._

_The engineer was not as fast as him, however. He was still in a startled state and dignified with but a blanket when lightning tore through the door of the workshop. Thor’s obvious and enormous silhouette stood squarely in the middle of it, Mjolnir in hand._

_“Shit! Fucking shit!” Tony jumped from the truck and fumbled to tuck the blanket as he draped it across his middle. “Thor?! What the actual fuck, Thor? I have a doorbell, you know!”_

_In too few strides, Thor crossed the workshop from the room to where they were. He loomed over the pair of them, aiming to threaten, but Loki was long unimpressed by such gestures. “What is the meaning of this?!” the thunderer howled._

_“I swear, Thor, I swear,” Tony said as he made his way behind Thor to inspect the display cars (and his Samurai Chopper), that were in close proximity of the blasted doors, “if there is one scratch on my babies, I will end you.”_

_“Loki!” Thor yelled ignoring the ramblings of the mortal, no doubt to call the attention of the smirking God of Mischief._

_“How did you find us?” Tony said from behind a hot rod._

_“What. Is. The. Meaning. Of. This?” Thor closed the distance between him and Loki. The God of Mischief stood his ground, unabashed. He didn’t let his smile fade but he knew it didn’t hold the same mirth._

_“How did you find us?” Tony repeated. Thor only stared at Loki, his eyes searching. “Hellooooooooo, Barbie?” Tony was next to them now, waving comically._

_Thor turned to him, fury and confusion painted a dumbfounded look on his face. “It matters not, Stark. Tell me what you are doing here with my brother.”_

_“Uh, yeah, Thor, buddy, that’s erm, that’s an awkward conversation I would rather not have with you.”_

_Loki couldn’t help himself then. He bent forward as he guffawed at the exchange between the oaf he grew up with and the mortal he grew attached to, “Take a wild guess, Thor,” he said all silk and poison._

_“How about we skip all this and just cut to the chase, huh?” Tony said as he stepped in between the two gods. Loki heard the familiar whir of the bracelets and anklets as they activated. Within seconds, Tony’s extremities were encased in metal. The suitcase at the mortal’s feet that neither god had noticed until that moment opened up and promptly attached itself across the mortal’s torso and crept to connect with the gauntlet and boots. It extended until Tony’s head , too, was protected by metal. His face was the only thing exposed, the gold faceplate remained lifted. “Are you taking Bambi? Because you know I can’t let you do that.”_

_Loki shot him a murderous sideway glance for the moniker but he doubted Tony even saw. The faceplate slammed shut then, the eye slits glowing blue. He stood, legs wide apart as he raised one hand up, a repulsor aimed squarely at Thor’s chest. Loki recognized this quickly as the Iron Man’s fighting stance. The God of Chaos was also not remiss to see Thor grip Mjolnir tighter._

_“He is a prisoner of Asgard, you have no jurisdiction to interfere with the laws of the Realm Eternal,” Thor barked._

_“Yeah, see, didn’t you steal him from Asgard? And since you covered your ass and put a Loki 2.0 there I can’t let you take him especially if you’re going to bring him back to SHIELD,” Tony fired without further warning at the already stunned God of Thunder. Thor stumbled backwards, probably from being caught by surprise more than the force of the shot._

_Thor regained his balance. He swung Mjolnir upwards, its head connecting with the Iron Man’s side. The metal suit went flying sideways. Tony’s quick wit saved him from being embedded into the wall when he used the repulsors to fly away from it. He flipped once in the air before smoothly landing on one knee, one hand as a tripod, the other outstretched for balance._

_Thor walked slowly towards the Iron Man. It would seem the big lout had learned his lesson and would not rely on his lightning to fight against his comrade. Loki, without full access to his magic, could not win against Thor, a truth he begrudgingly accepted. Though he was versed in combat, just as Thor had been, Thor was the warrior. Still, he would not cower from intervening._

_He stepped in the way of Thor’s path to Iron Man and said, “Charming as this is, your brotherly proclivity to once again meddle in my affairs, I must tell you to desist.”_

_Loki meant to continue but Thor merely bumped past him. The thunderer unknowingly hit a more tender injury and he was led to wince in pain instead, his speech losing stride. Tony took to the air, his workshop ceiling high enough to accommodate. Thor merely jumped and Tony fired once again, but Thor used Mjolnir to shield himself from any of the attacks. Both Loki and Tony knew this particular suit will not stand against the god-Avenger. It was not entirely designed for long term combat. Tony dove to avoid the incoming thunderer. Thor landed not far ahead and Tony did not relent in firing on him._

_“What. Did. I say. About. Scratching. My Baby!” Tony said in between grunts and recoil of each fire he sent towards Thor._

_It didn’t take long for Thor to reach Tony though despite the consequent assault he faced from his opponent and Loki had no time to react to what Tony made very clear.  The god-Avenger grabbed the metal suit by the neck and lifted it up effortlessly._

_“I do not wish to fight you, Stark,” Thor said. “I only came for my brother.” Tony wrapped both hands on Thor’s wrist. “My greatest apologies,” Thor said followed by the squeak of metal. Thor was tightening his grip and the suit fizzled out. The faceplate popped away giving Tony’s face full view. Blood was dripping where metal had cut. The difference in death and unconsciousness relied heavily on the degree of Thor’s hold._

_“NO!” Loki snarled from where he was huddled in pain. All of a sudden, nothing else registered except for the primal need to detach Thor from Tony. No magic, no daggers. But the place was littered with tools. Loki grabbed a screwdriver and in a perfect windmill swung his arm in a throw. Perfect aim landed the point of the tool embedded on Thor’s hand. The thundered yelped in pain and let go of the Iron Man in reflex. Tony fell in a heap on one of his cars. He gasped for air._

_Loki was there in less than seconds. He ripped the helmet of Tony’s head and cupped the engineer’s face in his hands. “Tony,” he breathed._

_“What do you guys have against my cars?” Tony said in reply with a rasp._

_Loki leaned his forehead against Tony’s and closed his eyes. He had made up his mind. He turned away from his mortal and faced Thor, who had just pulled the screwdriver out from his hand. He was standing back up, stance ready to fight again._

_“Enough!” Loki said. “I will go.” He felt the metal fingers graze his back as Tony reached for him but he was just out of reach._

_“Loki,” his mortal said. He struggled to get up from his sprawled state and managed to sit up._

_Loki turned around to face Tony again. “I will go. I have intruded on your hospitality for too long,” with that he kissed Tony, long and hard and desperate if only to prevent the mortal from replying._

_“Hospi-- What?” Tony said when they broke free but Loki already turned around to face Thor again, not wanting to see the pain on Tony’s face or was it that he didn’t want Tony to see his face?  He had said “I will go,” right at the same time Tony spoke._

_Loki stood up and made his way to Thor who was uncharacteristically quiet and still._

_“You can’t!”_

_“I must, Stark.” Loki said. “For you,” he added but too low for anyone to hear._

_“Ok, ok, just wait!” Tony cried. The metal suit was falling away from him as he ran towards a work table at the corner. He grabbed something from there before sprinting towards the two gods. “Wait,” he called again._

_Loki caught the thing that Tony gently pressed against his chest but his eyes remained on Tony’s. Searching. Memorizing. “I will come for you,” Tony said._

_And Loki wanted to believe. He truly did. But Asgard and Midgard were two different realms. No Midgardian technology could reach it. His only hope was for Tony to recall the tiny instance that he had mentioned nexus portals, but even those were too far away. Even if Tony could find a way to reach the Realm Eternal, Asgardian security would bring him before Odin and perhaps his death._

_Still._

_Still Loki could not say no. He couldn’t find it in himself to tell Tony not to. To move on with his life; because a huge part of him wanted Tony to try and succeed. A huge part of him wanted Tony to come yet again. A huge part of him wanted Tony. And he was too weak to fight against that part of him._

_“I will come for you,” Tony said again. The mechanic’s hands grabbed his face and pulled him close and kissed him, just as hard as Loki had, but even more desperate. The mortal clung onto him as if he was breath himself, as if breaking that kiss meant losing air. Loki kissed him deeper, one hand holding on to what had Tony given him, the other burying into Tony’s tousled hair._

_When they broke apart, their breathing was ragged and shallow. Tony’s hand on Loki’s neck kept him in place, forehead to forehead Tony repeated, “I will come for you.”_

_The mortal stepped back reluctantly. Loki saw the sadness there that he vowed he never again wanted to see. If  the Norns would allow him back into Tony Stark’s life, he would spend every hour of his life making sure that that look never again cross that face._

_“I better not find him in SHIELD again, Thor,” Tony said sternly but the mortal was still looking directly at Loki._

_He did not see Thor’s reaction or physical response if he gave one but he heard the thunderer from behind him say, “There are other circumstances we must speak of, Man of Iron.” Loki did not miss the disdain and disapproval in the elder’s voice._

_Loki turned around and joined Thor. He looked down at the item in his hand._ Basic Principles of Engineering _, it said._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure by now you can tell I suck at summaries x___X


	7. Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's impatience catches up to him.

**fall /fôl/ _verb_ -** **move downward, typically rapidly and freely without control, from a higher to a lower level**

 

* * *

 

**_Flight Test #24_ **

“Sir, we are approaching the boundaries of the comm. system,” JARVIS’ voice droned in Tony’s ear.

            “It’s alright, JARV, I think I can manage to read stats on screen,” Tony said with a determined voice. Currently, he was flying towards the edge of the stratosphere. He already anticipated to be cut off from JARVIS not only from the New York incident but also from their previous tests. As if cued by his thoughts, his back prickled with a sharp pain. He winced but mostly from surprise but it did not go unnoticed.

            “I highly suggest that you descend, sir.  The oxygen tank is not—“

            “I know, JARV, that’s why we’re doing tests.”

            “With all due respect, sir, we could do with more simulations and stabilizations. I will not be able to reconnect with you right away should you fall to your demise.”

            Though JARVIS was monotone, Tony could sense the hint of chastisement from his AI. He didn’t blame him, however; he’d crash a total of twenty-four times in the last month and a half. He’d been too impatient and too stubborn, testing out his new armors (multiple for the sole reason that almost all of them never survived the crash) before they were near ready.

            “O ye of little faith.”

            “Were I capable of such notions, sir, I might have lost it after the first premature tests.”

            “Cut the snark, buddy, you should be focusing on my stats. I feel good about this one. I think this is it. Shouldn’t have I lost you by now? How’s the power?”

            “Indeed. We are fifty feet farther into the stratosphere from where we disconnected in the last run. Unfortunately, electrical power is starting to flicker. Once you escape the pull of gravity, you might not have the power to propel yourself forward, or be able to navigate to the nexus portal. Furthermore, despite modifications, you still have insufficient ox—“

            “Okay! Geez, JARV, you couldn’t let me revel in my extra fifty feet? That’s progress!” Tony said but the familiar buzz of static was the only reply he got. “Looks like you jinxed us,” he sighed into the static, the tell-tale sign that the run has again failed. Having lost communication with JARVIS and the repulsors now faintly flickering, Tony could only brace himself for the fall. A string of expletives left his mouth.

 

* * *

 

Something wasn’t right. He was falling and falling and then he wasn’t. But it was too early and he didn’t feel the ground against his back. He was horizontal sure but his arms were slack against his side. Moving his head brought on a wave of nausea so he decided against that. Instead he moved his arms, relieved that he could, and felt around his person. His armored fingers clanged against something on his abdomen. _That’s new._ It was certainly not part of his armor. In fact it wasn’t _on_ his armor as much as it was _through_ his armor. A fucking spire. He landed through a fucking spire and it lanced the side one side of his abdomen. He should probably feel the pain but for some reason his pain centers hadn’t registered yet.

            His HUD flickered to life. It was about the time where his body would have met the ground, he supposed. “Hey, JARVIS, long time, eh?” he said by way of greeting. His voice was expectedly strained.

            “Sir, triangulating your location now. Your vital signs are beyond signs of concern, sir.”

            “Yeah, S. O. S. JARV,” he managed to say. He felt fluid rising up his throat, probably blood he’s about to vomit. “Don’t think I should fly myself out of here. So, you know call everyone you should.”

            He gurgled and then blacked out.

 

* * *

 

            “Loki!” The familiar booming voice filled the halls and disturbed his restless sleep. He opened his eyes, too tired to get up, he turned his head just in time for Thor to walk into view. “Loki,” Thor said again.

            “Not interested,” Loki drawled.

            “You should be,” Thor said sternly. “Tony, he-“

            “Is he dead?” Loki inquired, straight and devoid of emotion.

            “I tried to get here as soon as I heard.”

            “Is he dead?”

            “I thought you should know.”

            “Is he dead?”

            “Pepper… she, uh, she phoned Bruce. The good doctor informed the Captain and he, he told me as much. SHIELD has not been informed yet but I, I , I left-“

            “Thor.”

            “I left before I can find out if SHIELD knows.”

            “Is. He. Dead?!” Loki’s impatience raised the volume of his voice, if only to cut through the ramblings of the blonde god.

            “I don’t know, Loki, I don’t know,” Thor finally spat out, flustered and panicked. Loki let out a bated breath but no real relief washed over him. “I left to tell you. His incident was grave and the possibility… it’s high, Loki. He may not, may not be…” Thor paused to compose himself. Grief was painted clearly on his face; he was never one to conceal what he was feeling. Never was he one to carefully analyze it before getting carried away by it so it was no surprise that outrage was the next color he wore on his face. “I told you, brother! You should have heeded my words! Perhaps-“

            “Do shut up,” Loki said plainly. He swung his feet off his bed, rolled his shoulders, muscles visibly uncoiling as he had taken upon a bare torso again. “Did you ever consider,” he started. He huffed once when pushing his bed further into the corner until a small clearing was present in the center of his cell and then continued, “that perhaps Tony is not one to take orders? Not even from me?” He raised his eyebrows in question at Thor.

            “Surely, he-“

            “Then you do not know your ally at all, Thor,” he said dismissively. He then turned his back from the blonde god, “now if you will excuse me,” he warned, “you may want to leave; this will not be a pretty sight.”

            “Brother, what-“

            “Or stay, it matters to me not.”

            He knelt on one knee at the edge of the space he’s cleared and placed two hands, palms down, on the floor. Nothing happened. He heard a light shuffling which indicated that Thor was still present. He didn’t turn his attention to the blonde god, however. Instead, he furrowed his brows and shifted his weight. He concentrated harder on what he actually wanted, his goal shifting this time. Originally, he had wanted to look into Midgard, as occurrences were happening. Heimdall was the solitary Watchman for a reason but there existed a spell that allowed one to glimpse a space for a short period of time. It was complex and took too much energy. Seeing as Loki was bound, it meant that he was not one to use that spell. However, he could perhaps force himself to perform a less complex, though still not simple, one. He could look at past occurrences, the only question was when.

            “When?” He asked without turning around.

            “Loki, what…?

            “When, Brother!?” The slip of tongue was not lost on him. It was the only sign that he was panicking under his mask of serenity and determination.

            “Only minutes,” Thor responded.

            It should not be so difficult then. He would not have to dig very far. He knelt and placed his palms on the floor of his cell. He started the incantation, softly and silkily at first. But the magic proved to be more out of reach than he had anticipated. Soon enough he was grunting through the strain, the chant coming out broken. A faint glow formed at his fingers. Loki furrowed his brow, sweat beaded on his skin, a sensation new to him when it came to magic. But he would not be deterred. He continued until…

            “Argh!” The fire in his veins burned through from Odin’s cuffs. Soon enough they were physically visible on his hands.

            “Brother!” Thor yelled at him in full concern. Loki did not stop.

            A small circle of light appeared on the floor in between Loki’s hands. It revealed before him the Iron Man spiraling uncontrollably from the night sky. The metal suit was dead weight and no did not have the usual light show. Loki did not know whether or not Tony was actually conscious inside. He saw it before it happened: a large spire from an arcane building was in direct path of the suit’s descent.

            _No, no! Tony!_

            Loki’s mind screamed. He should have let go then, spared himself the visual of the events but he could not.

            He saw it. The thick point of the spire lancing through the metal suit and coming back out on the top side of the Iron Man. His hands felt around the spire for a moment before falling limply against his sides.

            Loki fell backwards. The light on the floor dimmed and was gone again. He was breathing raggedly both from the use of magic and from the sight he just saw. He was immobilized on the spot. Tony Stark’s demise rewound over and over in his mind more vivid than any memory he had of his mortal.

            He flipped around and crawled to the glass wall that separated him from Thor. He placed his bloodied hands against the glass.

            “Thor. THOR! Take me to him!” He pleaded.

            “Brother, I—“

            “TAKE ME TO HIM!” He screamed in decibels he did not know his voice could carry. He pulled at his hair, manic and urgency painting his face. “Please, Brother! Take me to him!” Tears were rolling freely from his eyes but he did not care. Tony, he was all that mattered. 


	8. Fall (Again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki challenges everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one might be slightly graphic

* * *

 

**fall /fôl/ _verb_ – to die, mostly used in context of battle**

 

* * *

 

**_Flight Test# 24_ **

            “Tony! Tony, Stay with me, buddy. Stay!” a voice commanded over him. He didn’t know why, he wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere. Whose voice was that anyway? It sounded like it should have been smart, like Tony _should_ be heeding those words but a life of practice made him tune it out. He felt the heaviness in his head him down. He would really like to sleep now. So, he was just going to stay here, like the voice said, and close his eyes and--

            A slap bit his cheek. But more than that, the familiar reverb of a metal ring colliding with his bone echoed in his ears. _Dad?_ Was Tony’s first thought but Howard was long gone, even in this haze he couldn’t forget that, and also that slap was followed by “TONY! Stay awake for a while longer, please, buddy!”A Brass Rat, it was then, the same one he wore on his finger, and Rhodey was going to pay for not taking that off before hitting him.

            _Why are you hitting me, Rhodey?_ Tony thought he said, but a string of “Tony, Tony, please," made him realize that maybe he hadn’t said anything at all. Who could speak anyway, when your chin was being squeezed and grabbed and shaken all different ways?

            “TONY! I can’t fly you buddy, not without you losing so much blood. Oh my god, Tony!”

            The manhandling led to one thought. _Loki._ Tony smiled despite himself, and then proceeded to choke and cough up blood. Then his eye widened at the realization of _why am I fucking trying to sleep? I need to get to Loki. I’m coming for you, sunshine. Loki, I’m coming. Loki. Loki. LokiLokiLokiLokiLoki._

            Tony convulsed as pain wracked and invaded his entire body, radiating from the crater on his abdomen. The darkness was slowly covering and there was peace to it, to not see the chaos of unfocused lights. And that peace was slowly overpowering his other senses, the voice and the sirens and the horns of the city dulling out.

            Were his eyes closing? He didn’t know, he didn’t care, he slipped into the dark with one concern. _Loki._

* * *

 

The sight that greeted Loki was not a pretty one. But then again, he wasn’t looking very princely at the moment either. As a result of having to avoid Thor’s lightning from interfering with the device inside the ambulance, the thunderer had to land somewhere close to the vicinity. The trick was getting close enough that Loki didn’t have to expend too much energy and endure more pain while teleporting but also far enough to avoid the electrical interference.

            Loki grunted through the burning sensation as he tried to steady himself from landing clumsily. Slowly, a myriad of chaos came into focus. One mortal fell backwards and flailed against the equipment strewn about in the cramped ambulance when Loki appeared out of nowhere on top of Tony’s unconscious body. The other one by Tony’s head who was pumping what looked like a balloon that blew air into Tony’s nose and mouth yelled, “Oh my god!” but continued to pump. The driver swerved-twice- once in shock and the second to avoid collision.

            Loki sat astride only slightly lower than Tony’s middle, his knees on either side of Tony’s hips. “His, not yours,” he said weakly in reply to the balloon mortal. His hands were floating on top of Tony’s exposed abdomen, where blood gushed out barely plugged by red-soaked gauze. Despite the calm in his voice, his hands trembled violently in front of him and it had nothing to do with the burns caused by forcibly reaching for magic.

            “You foolish mortal. Why?”

            He wanted to touch the wound- could he call it a wound? – the gaping hole that mocked his inability to instantly heal his engineer. But touching it meant knowing beyond all doubt and with unbeatable proof that it was real. That Tony Stark – _his_ Tony was mortal and dying… slipping away from him in ragged, stolen breaths from a plastic balloon.

            “You’re—“ a scared trembling voice came from his left- the mortal who fell backwards in bewilderment was feeling around for probably any potential weapon.

            “Loki, yes, yes. Invasion  of New York. Stay your hand, I am not here to kill him,” the god said not bothering to look sideways, impatient to deal with placating scared mortals. “Now you,” he continued without losing a beat and this time looked at the receiver of his conversation, “what is that device? What are you doing?”

            “I- thi- this – it’s called an Ambu-bag,” balloon man replied and despite his shuddering and his nervous response, his pumping of this Ambu-bag was steady and trained. “Mr. Stark can’t breathe properly on his own, so this delivers pressure and air into his lungs when I squeeze this.”

            Loki turned his gaze back to Tony’s face, obstructed by the mask attached to the Ambu-bag. He quietly calculated the information and for a moment nothing passed in the ambulance but silence.

            “Please, Mr. Loki, sir,” the mortal at his side said, “I need to keep pressure on Mr. Stark’s wound, otherwise, he’ll bleed to death. He’s already lost so much as it is.”

            Loki looked sideways at him, murder dancing in his eyes. The mortal defiantly held his resolved but clearly cowering at the stare. The god didn’t move an inch and the mortal dared to shift closer to Tony’s body. When the god didn’t react further, the mortal reached for more gauze and held it against the gushing wound. A quiet whimper escaped Tony as red spread across the white gauze. Loki’s hand darted quicker than a bullet and grabbed the mortal’s hand.

            “It’s just pressure… please,” he said.

            Loki hesitantly let go. He assessed Tony’s situation. He would have some organ damage, lungs probably because he needed some help breathing. Abdominal organs, of course, a spire had just lanced through him. He’d have to choose; he didn’t have enough power to completely heal Tony, especially when he’d already expended himself a couple of times earlier that day. A surge of anger spiked through him, and a string of expletives- ones he learned from Tony- escaped him in one breath.

            Loki touched Tony’s bare chest, the blue glow of the arc reactor casted shadows that made the burns on Loki’s hand even uglier. The reality of situation hit him like a charging Sleipnir. Tony was dying. Loki was helpless. Well, almost. He repositioned his hands so that they hovered above the mortal’s which held the gauze in place atop Tony’s wound.

            “You will feel heat flow through you, keep calm, and keep on with what you need to do,” he mandated to the mortal. “You will see injuries begin to form across my arm, ignore them. Whatever transpires, your only job is to keep Tony Stark alive, do you understand?”

            The mortal gave him a curt nod and focused again on Tony’s wound. Loki took a deep breath, readying himself. He closed his eyes, orienting himself with the magic around. He can picture it, gold threads of magic around him but he could also picture the barrier Odin had put around him. He inhaled deeply, a futile instinctive move to brace himself for the pain. And then, he reached against the barrier. Healing someone else was one of the more complex magic, though Loki had never fully realized until now since it had been second nature to him growing up. He had to reach deeper and harder against his barrier and the strain was evidently showing against his skin. He felt the wind knocked out of him as he was met with the burning sensation of fighting the All-father’s magic, but even more than the fiery sensation, he also felt like micro-sized knives cut constantly on his skin.

            The mortal at his side gasped. It was the only indication that Loki was actually making a difference on Tony since the amount of blood occluded his view to the wound.

            “His wound…” Loki heard the mortal say but the rest of it was drowned out by his own excruciating pain. Through gritted teeth, furrowed brows, and half-shut eyes he saw the mortal start to wipe some of the blood away. He split his focus between his magic and looking at the damage on Tony. Indeed, magic was slowly working on it, organs and muscle and flesh weaving itself together but it was slow progress and there was a long way to go and he didn’t know how long he could last.

            His hands were just one shade short of black and the burns had reached past his elbows. Spider web cuts and veins were becoming more and more visible from his shoulders to his chest. His eyes were probably red and he felt his nose bleed. Loki was a mess.

            “But, Mr. Loki!” The Ambu-bag mortal called to him bewildered, he sat face to face with Loki and thus had the full view of the damages on the god of chaos.

            “Shut… up!... Fo…cus!... Ignore!” Loki managed to say in grunts. With a command like that, the mortal had no choice but to obey.

            Loki directed some of the magic towards his hip bone. It was a risk, he knew, but a risk he needed to take. The sigil that hid him from Heimdall and Odin glowed a poison green, heated up in blaze and left in its wake an unidentifiable scar. He was exposed.

“YOU WILL HEAR ME, ODIN ALLFATHER!” He let some of the magic go so he could speak more properly. “See now your former son, denounced and estranged, erstwhile Prince of Asgard, never-son of Laufey, and destroyer of Jotunheim! See me, Allfather and see this mortal, Anthony Stark, warrior of Midgard and friend of Thor! Commute my punishment and let me heal him and I will relinquish – ARRGHH!!!” At that moment, Loki felt the cuffs around his wrist tighten and the pain increase that he _had_ to let go of the magic and he staggered backwards onto Tony’s legs. He cursed at what he thought to be Odin’s childish attempt at revenge for being double-crossed. He stole a look at the two mortals in front of him, confusion and fear freely pastered upon their faces.

“Look, sir, he’s stabilizing,” the Ambu-bag mortal said and he actually took off the mask off of Tony’s face. “He’s breathing on his own.”

“His wound is somewhat healed,” the other one chimed as he revealed the hole on Tony’s abdomen, which was in truth, looking less ugly. “You’ve done well, sir.”

Loki scoffed,  and any other time he would have strangled the mortal for the seemingly insulting compliment but right now all he care about was Tony’s well being. He was relieved, forgetting for a moment his anger towards Odin. He got off Tony and sat on the other side of him. He combed his hands through his hair, ignoring the sting of his own wounds, and ran them down his sweat-soaked face.

One of the mortals were gesturing towards him and saying something about his wounds when…

Tony seized.

Tony’s torso lifted and jerked intensely, his head tipped backwards.

Loki growled. “YOU SAID HE WAS STABLE!”

“ATIVAN, STAT!” was the only answer he got.

“No! No no no no-no-no-nonono!” Loki growled again. He placed his hands against Tony’s chest once more, ignoring the mortals’ pleas to let the body move, lest Tony break his neck. “NO!” he said once more. He reached for the magic, not knowing whether he still could with Odin’s strengthened spell. The pain no longer registered though he was visibly aware of the burn crawling up and across his chest. The cuffs glowed emerald fighting with Odin’s orange-gold glow but stayed in place. His hands too glowed the same shade of green, very unlike the poisoned one he had been sporting all night, the first time that night since he’s tried to use magic. Tony stilled, whether from his magic touch or the Ativan, he was not sure. But Tony’s wound was closing much quicker than it had all night, and that one he knew was because of him.

Loki let go only when he knew the wound was no longer fatal. In fact, a simple dressing was all that was needed. He wished he could’ve closed it all the way but he was far too spent. His breathing was ragged as he gasped for every breath he took. He was sure that the mortal might have offered to Ambu-bag him.

“Loki?” he heard. Rasp though it was, Tony’s voice was a serenade to his ears.

“Hello…Sunshine,” Loki greeted in between breaths and smiled weakly. But that only led to him sputtering blood.

“Loki!!” A pair of calloused hands was suddenly tight around his arms. Loki winced at the sting of the touch. Quickly, delicately, the hands moved across his chest and then back up and down his forearms and then took his hands within them. Tony was sitting up now. “What happened?!” Tony’s voice was laced with panic and Loki didn’t really understand why, Tony was safe now.

“Heh, you were dying, fool,” he said and against his own will, his head fell forward, his forehead landing squarely on Tony’s shoulders.


	9. Into Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's thing is explained

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! hi! you're still here :P

**fall /fôl/ (into place) _verb_ – to understand something that was not understood before, to have a resolution**

 

* * *

 

When Loki opened his eyes, he was in an unfamiliar room. The lights were turned down low, perhaps to give him rest, but there was a machine next to him that was beeping annoyingly. There was also a too-clean smell that made him wrinkle his nose. He felt tightness around his upper torso and realized that the whole bit was bandaged tightly. His arms too, he saw, when he lifted them up to his eye level. Strangely enough, though, he felt no pain in the motions. Did Midgardian medicine actually have an effect on him?

            He reached across his body and disconnected the clamp on his finger that must have been connecting him to the infuriating beeping device. There was a loud horn sound as he did so before it finally quieted down.

            A heap of blankets stirred on his other side. A head of tousled hair emerged from the pile yelling, “I didn’t do it!” The pair of huge groggy brown eyes blinked rapidly at him.

            “Oh, good morning, sunshine,” Tony said as he struggled to sit up from his contorted position on the couch. With a few grunts, he managed to free himself from the tangle of blankets.

            “Tony!” Loki sat up quickly at the sight of him. “What are you--? Why..? You should not be out of your bed and on that, that, that atrocious thing!”

            Loki was working on getting freed from his share of blankets and getting out of his own bed but Tony having already freed himself was at his side quicker than he could escape. The tell-tale hands of the mechanics held his shoulder and pinned him in place.

            “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Relax, I’m fine,” Tony’s voice was gentle and calming, his grin reassuring.

            “But-“ Loki’s widened eyes swept up and down Tony.

            “I’m okay, sunshine. See?” He stepped back and spread his arms to showcase his well-being. “Thanks to you,” he beamed.

            “What in the Nines are you wearing?”

            “A very fabulous hospital gown. Check me out,” Tony said. He spun around slowly and stopped when his back was facing Loki. The opening of the gown gave a full view of his arse, which he wiggled shamelessly before turning back around again.  Loki let out a light hearted laugh.

            “Insufferable,” Loki said. Tony arched his eyebrows suggestively. “What is that?” Loki pointed to the tubing that was plastered on the back of Tony’s hand; tubing that was connected to a bag of fluids hanging on a pole that the mortal wheeled closer previously.

            “Oh, this?” Tony held up his hand. “It’s an IV… uh… intravenous something. Basically delivers all this fluid directly into my veins. It’s just water and some vitamins though, apparently I’ve been malnourished. But other than that I’m all good, baby.”

            Loki was not convinced. He might not be hanging by a thin thread anymore but Loki hadn’t fully healed him. He should not be exerting himself and leaving a more comfortable, well, slightly, hospital bed for a back twisting couch to sleep in. Not for him, he didn’t deserve it. He buried his face in his hands.

            “Tony,” he said into his hands. His voice was muffled but for some reason this was difficult to say and he would rather hide his emotions at that moment. “You were dying. You were dying, slipping away. You would have gone to where I could no longer follow and I- I was too weak. Too selfish! I put you on that path and I was too weak to stop you. Even too weak to completely save you. I am so, so, sorry, my sweet.”

            He kept his hands on his face, afraid to see how Tony reacted, afraid of his own words and misgivings being spoken out loud and laid bare. There was a dip on his bed, indicating that Tony had sat down at his side. The mechanic hands were on his wrists then, tugging to break his cover free.

            “Hey,” Tony coaxed. “Let me see you.” He tugged again but Loki would not yield. “Come on, Loki. I want to see you, especially since you finally gave me a nickname.” Loki could hear the smile in Tony’s voice.

            Loki let out a chuckle despite himself. “You are an idiot, you know that?” he couldn’t help it. Despite what had transpired, that was what his engineer picked up on?

            “Welcome back, sunshine. You’ve been away from me too long. I _need_ to see you.”

            Loki finally relented and Tony wasted no time to move his hand from Loki’s wrist to cupping Loki’s face, thumbs tracing the sharp line of his jaw. Loki leaned in to the touch, missing familiar warmth that he only got whenever he was with Tony. “There you are,” the mortal said.

            The god held the smiling gaze of those big brown eyes. He took in his engineer’s face, the few small cuts that marred it, the not-so-neat goatee that had been rejected, and that smile, too bright. The smile that was his real home.

            “I almost lost you.”

            “But you didn’t. You found me and you saved me. I guess my test flights actually worked!” Tony winked. Loki tilted his head in confusion. Didn’t he just fall to his almost demise? “I’m with you again.”

            “Fool,” Loki said again but he couldn’t fight the widening smile that was taking over his face. “Do not attempt to do that anymore,” he chided.

            “Then don’t leave again.”

            “I am afraid, my sweet, that I may not have that choice,” he sighed, his smile dying a little. He rested his forehead against Tony’s. “I have made myself visible to Odin now. In truth, I am quite dumbfounded that he has not removed me from this realm yet.”

            “No, sunshine,” Tony lifted Loki’s chin so that he his face was in full view of the god again. His face that had a full on smile, Loki was perplexed. The ax might be what was waiting for him in Asgard, Tony knew this as much, so why was he smiling? “Look,” Tony prompted. The engineer’s hands held his within them, thumb brushing along t his wrists.

            “What..?”

            _Along his wrists._

            Sure enough when he looked down that was what he saw. Tony’s tanned hands in contrast against his ivory skin. His skin, bare and exposed, smooth and unscarred.  _Unbound._

            “What..?” he breathed.

            “I think you’re forgiven. At least that’s what Thor thinks. Him and Rhodey caught up with us in the ER after you collapsed. _You_ were dying! Talk about a welcome back. I’m mad at you for that, by the way, here you are lecturing _me_ about dying and you fucking sacrifice yourself? House and Wilson tried to do stuff to your burns in the ambulance. Oh my god could I even call them burns? There was no skin left, Loki! It was all just muscle, that’s gotta be like 300 th degree or something.” Tony paused, his eyes manic. Loki barely registered his own injury before everything faded. He had no recollections of anything after. “Dynamic duo all but poured a tub of salve before they could cover you up. And you weren’t breathing, or I don’t know maybe you were, very shallow but you were out. They switched our places,” Tony shot him an accusatory squinted eye look then, “they wheeled you in and Thor and Rhodey were there. There was an orange-y light on the symbol on the cuffs and they just… fell away. Then you glowed all yellow under your bandages and Thor said it was your mother.”

            “I… I must… I must speak to Thor,” Loki sputtered. He turned his wrists around. He was still filled with disbelief.

            “Of course. He went back to Asgard to clear all of this up with Big Daddy,” he heard Tony say but didn’t fully register it.

            Just like that, everything seemed to just fall into place: the reason why he felt no pain under his bandages, why he was sitting on a hospital bed in Midgard rather than his prison cell in Asgard. Or why he was alive when that surge of magic he used on Tony should have taken his life. And if that had not, then Odin would not have paused to take it himself. But he was here, whole, and unmarred, in the company of the one who had taken his life in a different way. _Frigga._ His mother had restored him after being set free from Odin’s curse. _Had Odin recant the spell himself?_ No matter, perhaps. Where pride would have resided before and refused the reprieve from Odin, it had been replaced by sheer relief and gratitude. For at this moment, he had something, _someone,_ to live for and he would take those years in any way he could get it… even if it meant being grateful or indebted to Odin. He would have to face him of course, but that is a matter for another day.

            The matter at hand was right in front him. He finally realized it then, the familiar jump of magic on his skin. He had not become immediately aware of it perhaps due to the panic of seeing Tony being careless…yet again. But there it was. Alive. Oh, _so alive._

            And he needed to feel it against the warmth of Tony’s skin. He ran long deft fingers across his lover’s cheek, sparks of green trailed his fingers like a comet trail. He made a point to touch every cut, every scratch and wherever he did, it closed and healed like it was never there.

            “Oh shit!” Tony gasped. “Look I’ve got goosebumps!” The mortal held his arm up for Loki to see and sure enough there were hair raised. “Oh man, we _have_ got to try that with _other_ things, if you catch my drift!”

            “Insufferable, you are,” Loki teased and shook his head. “Come, let me take care of the rest of you first.”

            “You’re going to touch me everywhere with those sparkies?” Tony raised an eyebrow, grin too big with mischief. “You might raise something other than hair.”

            “Behave, my sweet,” Loki said but he was consumed with the wicked thoughts as well. “Perhaps you can remove these bandages after though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much :) This was basically the ending, the next one's more like an epilogue but the last piece of art is there :)


	10. For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony fumbles...  
> ... because he's a dork.

 

**fall /fôl/ (for) _verb_ – to feel love for someone, be in love with someone**

* * *

 

            Consciousness slowly nudged Tony until he lost his grip on dreamland. Reluctantly, he blinked away sleep from his eyes but still refused to move from his position of lying on his stomach. He stayed like that for a few more minutes, awake but not quite ready to wake up , before he rolled off the bed. He didn’t bother to make any other stop when he zombie walked to the kitchen; which meant making his coffee buck naked. He was fucking Tony Stark and really, was this at all farfetched?

            Tony settled back at The 100, the apartment near MIT, after Loki left with Thor to officially go before Odin and figure out whatever is left to figure out. It was definitely not because he missed Loki and that the smell of the apartment where they had spent the majority of their time together was the only thing that was keeping him from building another suit and plunging into another death trip, no definitely not. It was just the Boston skyline, right? And the smaller empty space of the apartment compared to the Stark Tower. That was all.

            The coffee was taking too long; watching the drips was hammering down on his impatience and making him think of certain things and a certain god and it was way too before-coffee for that. He sauntered back into the bedroom, a short walk, thank goodness, and pulled a clean pair of boxers. When he came back to the kitchen, his coffee, by all mercies, was finally brewed and wafting through the place. He wasted exactly zero seconds to pour himself a cup…and then a second cup.

            “This look becomes you,” a voice said just as he was taking a huge gulp from his second cup. He sputtered much of it back out into the cup and onto the floor as he turned around to where the voice had come from.

            Regal and slender and svelt stood the source, legs wide apart, and hands clasped behind his back. The morning – maybe actually noon now- light spilling through the floor-to-ceiling window silhouetted the figure.

            “Sweet buttery sex on legs!!” Tony exclaimed, more coffee dribbling down from the corners of his mouth. “Fuck! Loki? What the hell?!”

            “In due course, my sweet,” Loki replied with a light chuckle. “I stand corrected,” he said, walking smoothly towards Tony. He picked up a table napkin on the way from the living room to the kitchen where Tony was sloppily trying to brush the coffee off his mouth with his arm. Loki lifted Tony’s chin with his finger, wiped the corners of Tony’s mouth gently with the napkin on the other hand and said, “ _This_ look becomes you,” before leaning in to plant a chaste kiss on Tony’s lips.

            “You’re lucky I’ve had coffee,” Tony pouted. He set his cup down and twined his hands around the god’s neck and pulled him down. “C’mere, sunshine.”

            Unashamedly, Tony kissed Loki with so much desperation. Because he _did_ miss him. And this apartment did not compare to the way Loki smelled at that moment, fresh cool water and frost and what the color blue would smell like if it had a scent. Tony’s hand pulled at Loki’s neck to close a distance that was no longer there and he breathed the air from Loki’s mouth like it was more precious than oxygen. And good grief did he miss the way Loki’s kisses always tasted like spearmint, spicy and intense. His hands buried, tangled, in Loki’s black curls, surrendering fully to his desperation and longing.

            Loki grabbed Tony’s hips and pulled him closer so that they were flat against each other. Tony moaned into the kiss when he felt Loki through the very thin material of his boxers. His growing erection became more and more sensitive knowing Loki’s was getting just as hard. Loki encircled his arms across Tony’s back and held him tightly in place, maybe it was his way of restraining himself, maybe he just needed to feel Tony there. Tony’s heart hammered against his chest… or was that Loki’s?  He couldn’t tell anymore, their beats racing in sync like a duet of one song.

            Loki pulled away first, however reluctantly, air becoming an annoying necessity to breathing. Tony chased after for one more peck and then conceded to the separation.

            “You missed me,” Loki said with a smirk.

            “Shut up,” Tony retorted but he couldn’t tear away his eyes from staring at Loki’s reddened lips. He grabbed his cup from the table and took a sip of his now cold coffee if only to distract himself from the thoughts coming from both his increasing emotions and erection. He loved coffee, he did, but at that moment it tasted like coal compared to the cool, sweet taste of Loki. He forced himself to gulp and turned towards the sink to toss the rest of it down.

            “When d’ya get back?” Tony couldn’t help that his voice sounded like a whine.

            “Just before the sun rose,” Loki said as they both made their way back into the living room. As they sat down- Tony at the long couch, expecting Loki to follow suit but instead the god settled into the shorter love seat- Tony couldn’t help but feel oddly awkward at the formality of their position.

            Tony huffed, got up and plopped himself down next to Loki and propped his legs across Loki’s lap.  He smirked innocently at the startled god before saying, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

            Loki shook his head in acceptance and replied, “I know the hours you keep, my sweet, I was perfectly content watching you sleep… and even more watching you parade around this morning,” he added with a teasing chuckle.

            “Creep.”

            “Do not tell me you’ve become modest in our time apart?”

            “Uh, no,” Tony replied. He scooted closer to Loki and kissed the god’s neck. “Definitely not. But you could’ve woken me up.”

            Loki smiled and tilted Tony’s chin up so he could give it a quick peck. He smiled and said, “I’ve missed you too.”

            Tony tried to fight the stupid grin crawling across his face, he really did. But it was a resilient thing and only grew bigger. “I know, it’s hard not to miss me,” he said. “Now tell me what happened with Dad.”

            Loki lifted an eyebrow at Tony.

            “I plan on spending the rest of my amazing life with you; I might as well start addressing the parentals properly right?”

            Loki continued to stare.

            Tony continued to babble. “I mean if you want, that is. I know, I kind of did that weird. I’ll do it again later. I planned on doing it properly, I promise. With, like, pants. And probably sloshed with liquid courage.”

            Loki frowned, his lips becoming nothing more than thin straight line. It was one of the masks Loki wore when he was hiding a reaction. So Tony frowned.

            “You know what, scratch it. It’s fine, tell me about Asgard.”

            “No, I-“

            “Tell me about Asgard first,” Tony smiled but he knew it was weak. Loki looked a little lost at that moment. But it was fine because he wasn’t trying to disappear and he could have but he was there. He stayed. _Small  victories_ , Tony thought despite the suffocating panic. How could he have just thrown that into Loki’s face, like that? Tony, you’re so stupid.

            “It’s fine, all is well in Asgard,” Loki said, voice hollow.

            “Tell me.”Because Tony couldn’t stand it if there was an awkward silence and he, for the first time in a while, couldn’t fill his mouth with clever words.

            “The Allfather deemed me worthy to have my magic again, but that is old news,” Loki narrated but the way the words came out of his mouth seemed mechanical. “I have been released from prison and allowed to continue the rest of my sentence in Midgard,” he looked over at Tony, a small pleading smile dancing on his lips. “That was Thor’s idea, surprisingly, though he said it was mostly because he could no longer bear to see me in a glass prison. He would like a word, by the way, whenever you find the time. Or he finds you. You know the boundaries the oaf respects are nearly nonexistent,” Loki rolled his eyes but gratitude was apparent in his voice. “The only caveat would be that I return to fight alongside the warriors of Asgard should this threat come. And also with the heroes of Midgard should the same threat continue here. All’s arranged with SHIELD,” he chuckled lightly at a memory. “I thoroughly enjoyed the way Allfather forbade SHIELD from inquiring more about the Tesseract,” he turned towards Tony, eyes softening. “You would have too.”

            “It’s hard to imagine enjoying anything Odin does,” Tony said.

            “Yes,” Loki said.

            Tony nodded curtly.

            “I mean, yes, Tony Stark, I would have you spend the rest of your measly life with me, if the offer still stands.”

            And there went that stupid little grin again, overtaking Tony’s face. “Oh you would, would ya? Why not you spend your life with mine? I said amazing, by the way, not measly. Why’s it the other way around?”

            Loki chuckled, “That is agreeable as well, my sweet.” Loki ran his thumb gently across Tony’s cheek. “I had planned to ask you as well, you know.”

            Tony laughed, “You snooze, you lose, sunshine!”

            Loki cupped Tony’s face in response. He kissed him, unhindered and Tony was once again lost in the ecstasy of the way Loki tasted. Without completely noticing how it happened, he found himself lying down on the loveseat with a god towering over him. Loki’s green eyes sparkled with mischief, bright and brilliant and, Tony saw in the blown pupils, hungry.

            Before long Loki’s lips were all over his neck, the god’s hands roaming over his torso.

He didn’t fight the moans that were escaping him. There was no shame in admitting that he was touch starved… no, that he was starved from Loki’s touch. Loki’s alone. He yelped once when Loki started to touch him with a spark of magic. He felt Loki’s mischievous smile form against his skin. And then there were teeth grazing him and “Fuuuuuuck” came out of his mouth.

            Tony settled into the funny little happy feeling that was forming in the pit of his stomach. It was the clarity and ecstasy he always tried to find at the bottom of a bottle or the next faceless lover before Loki. He wasn’t going to deny himself this. The only certainty he finally had.

            But there was one problem.

            “Loki, why the fuck are you still wearing clothes?”

 

-Fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you, thank you so much again to Caroline/Cepharah for her arts!  
> and to you, dear reader! Thank you for bearing with me with my first story :) I hope you enjoyed it anyhow!  
> Comments/Critiques are welcome of course... but please be gentle :P

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, thank you to the awesome Caroline for the arts! I hope you enjoy this ride :)


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